Vital work at canals is underway
THIS winter, waterways will be emptied, fish moved and vital, listed structures replaced, as repairs are carried out on the Rochdale Canal.
This month, the Canal and Riverside Trust is starting five months of important repairs to the waterway, which travels through the town and across Greater Manchester, as part of a regionwide scheme.
The national waterways and wellbeing charity, the Canal and Riverside Trust, will do almost £1m of work on waterways in Greater Manchester, including the Rochdale Canal and Huddersfield Narrow Canal. The maintenance work will include replacing a number of handcrafted lock gates and repairing listed waterway structures.
Ageing gates will be replaced in central Manchester on the Rochdale Canal, while in the town itself locks will undergo work to prevent them from leaking.
The wooden lock gates on canals typically last around 25 years and allow countless boats to travel from place to place.
Each new gate is made to measure, weighs several tonnes and is handcrafted from seasoned oak so that it fits perfectly into the lock chamber.
Once in place, the new lock gates will help the Canal and Riverside Trust to conserve water and keep boats moving.
Repairs will begin this month and the maintenance programme will continue until March 2019.
Ged King, from the Canal and River Trust, said: “The projects we’re carrying out over the next five months are really important.
“We’ll be emptying millions of litres of water from the canal, moving thousands of fish, and lifting multi-tonne lock gates through the air into place.
“It is a great example of the type of work we do to improve the canal so everyone who lives on, works on or visits the waterway can enjoy.
“The canals are 200 years old, but arguably as relevant as ever for today’s society.”